A novel diagnostic method for a rare fungus: FcMBL facilitates Wickerhamomyces anomalus identification in an immunocompromised neonate

Conor J Higgins; Kerry-Anne Kite; Nigel Klein; Michael Super; Michael T McCurdy; Darren Hargrave

doi:10.1016/j.mmcr.2023.100614

A novel diagnostic method for a rare fungus: FcMBL facilitates Wickerhamomyces anomalus identification in an immunocompromised neonate

Med Mycol Case Rep. 2023 Oct 21:42:100614. doi: 10.1016/j.mmcr.2023.100614. eCollection 2023 Dec.

Authors

Conor J Higgins¹, Kerry-Anne Kite^{2

3}, Nigel Klein^{2

3}, Michael Super⁴, Michael T McCurdy^{5

6}, Darren Hargrave³

Affiliations

¹ The Robert Larner, M.D. College of Medicine at the University of Vermont, Burlington, VT, USA.
² Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, London, United Kingdom.
³ Great Ormond Street Hospital, London, United Kingdom.
⁴ Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA.
⁵ University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA.
⁶ BOA Biomedical Inc., Cambridge, MA, USA.

Abstract

Fungemia negatively impacts patient outcomes, current diagnostics lack sensitivity to identify emerging rare mycoses, and fungal infections are increasing in prevalence, variety, and resistance. We report a case of Wickerhamomyces anomalus in an immunocompromised neonate in which FcMBL bead-based matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight (MALDI-TOF) mass spectrometry (MS) resulted in species identification roughly 30 hours before standard pathogen identification methods. Deploying FcMBL bead-based MALDI-TOF MS may improve the speed and accuracy of identification, and therefore treatment, of rare pathogens.

Keywords: Case report; FcMBL; Fungemia; MALDI-TOF MS; Neonate; Wickerhamomyces anomalus.

Publication types

Case Reports